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Social Change Training Manual

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SUSTAINABLE ACTIVISM

SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL WORK

Presenter: Katrina Shields

MOTIVATION & DESPAIR

Why provide training or support in this area?

Feelings of discouragement, exhaustion and even bitterness are not uncommon among activists who have worked for more than a few years.
Turnover is high, with subsequent loss of skilled people.
Many groups do not attract enough new members or work as effectively as they could, and the causes can be linked with not dealing effectively with these issues.
Research by Mary Gnomes on peace activists in the USA.found the major cause of dropping out and discouragement was not campaign losses or lack of results, but unresolved and unsatisfactory relationships with other activists. 1
Bill Moyer highlights that many activists adhere to a belief that they are powerless and that the movement is failing. They are often hostile to the notion that the movement is progressing along the normal road of movement success and that they could afford to celebrate their successes.2
Groups are often led by highly task/action-oriented personalities who may remain highly motivated, but who do not acknowledge the needs of others for training and support, or for validation, and who do not give attention to individual needs and group process until it is too late.

Training In Five Areas That Can Assist Environmental Workers In Maintaining Motivation

By providing training or programs that address the following five sets if issues many of the problems encountered by activists can be addressed. Each of these five key areas is addressed in a specific section in this paper

Helping activists individually and collectively deal with feelings such as loss, grief, frustration, anger and despair
Assisting the establishing of support / affinity groups
Assisting activists to develop a wider perspective on the change process
Developing or maintaining group morale / motivation.
Training in processes and techniques to motivate and enrol non-active people

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1. HELPING ACTIVISTS INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY DEAL WITH FEELINGS SUCH AS LOSS, GRIEF, FRUSTRATION, ANGER AND DESPAIR

We are continually bombarded by signs and information telling us that the world is in trouble. Feelings of pain or distress caused by this are natural and healthy, if acknowledged, expressed and used as a motivating force for acting positively for change.

What is not healthy is the denial, the psychic numbing that prevents many people from really taking in what is happening around us, and which also saps energy and blocks the ability to take action for change, sending people scurrying into escapist activities.

Or, unacknowledged, unexpressed feelings of pain for the world can cause people to take action in an unhealthy way - acting for change from a sense of desperation and/or driven-ness, so that their actions are more frantic than effective. This is a sure recipe for eventual burn-out. Cynicism, can be seen as a form of congealed disappointment, feelings that have not had an opportunity to be expressed and to shift.

Actions which rely on anger as their only fuel can result in behaviour which is counter-productive, lacking well-thought-out long term strategies and appropriate responses.

When we can express our feelings of pain for the world - whether they manifest as anger, fear, sadness, hopelessness, frustration, numbness, etc. - in a safe way and in the company of others, it helps to release the mind, to clear the energy, and to overcome the fear that these feelings will destroy us. It helps us to re-connect with others, with the vast web of life, and with the resources we have for creating change. It reassures us that we are not in this alone - we have support for the journey.

This work can be done at a very simple level of being willing to listen to and support colleagues feelings, or to allow time in meetings and workshops to acknowledge this dimension, through to specially designed workshops. These workshops could be from a few hours to a few days in length and can assist with a deep transformation in motivation. This field is known as Despair to Empowerment work.

Some of the exercises we use in this work are designed to:

Hear each others' stories of despair and of hope and to gain support
Allow full expression of the feelings of despair and other feelings in a ritualised way
Reclaim our sense of power
Create visions of positive futures
Develop skills and strategies for action
Enhance our sense of inter-connectedness - with each other and with the web of life

The methods used engage all of our senses and ways of knowing and include creative play, painting, dancing, creating rituals, storytelling, meditations, guided visualisations, games, trust-building , writing and goal-setting exercises.

Some useful short exercises :

Open Sentences

This exercise can be done in pairs or small groups, each person taking a turn to respond to the following opening line(s):

"Times I have felt really despairing are........" OR

"Times in my activist life when I have been at my lowest ebb are......."

"What contributed to this was........"

"What got me out of it was............."

This could form the basis of a discussion and sharing of participants feelings in this area.

Making a Difference Stories

"Relax, close your eyes and remember a time when you felt that some action you took made a difference that was positive. What happened? Who was involved? What was the setting? Remember as vividly as possible the qualities of mind and feelings you had at the time."

Either write this down for yourself or share your stories in a small group or in pairs.

There are many exercises and processes for working in this dimension, resources can be found in Macy (1983), Shields (1991) and Seed et al (1988).

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2. ASSISTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SUPPORT/AFFINITY GROUPS.

It is never an easy road for people committed to fundamental change. For many of us this work represents a lifelong commitment. How do we sustain ourselves through the inevitable hard times? How can we hold on to our faith and resolution? Where do we recharge and renew our commitment? How do we find resources? Who can help us to stay on track?

One way to nourish this is to form a support or affinity group. This could consist of three to seven members who make a commitment to meet regularly and to be in contact with each other as needed. Many people have managed to continue environmental work without a structured support group. However, few people who devote their lives to such work do it without some regular source of reflection, challenge, and affirmation - necessary for sustained and effective efforts for change. Too often we are confronted with feelings of isolation - even from those with whom we work closely.

Support groups are one way to give regular attention to each person's social change work - to reflect on directions, goals, effectiveness, rough places and growing points, to challenge each other - taking into account all dimensions of our lives. There are three basic elements to the support: emotional support, support for action, and educational support.

Emotional support can be: giving encouragement, affirming and validating thinking and achievements, allowing space for expressions of feelings, checking on physical health and discouraging over-work. Support can be loving challenges based on seeing a person and their life clearly and then thinking carefully about that person.

Support for action can be: helping to clarify goals, set directions and take actions. It can also help solve problems in specific difficult situations, to look at longer-range strategy questions. It can focus on areas of skill and leadership development for each individual. The group can also decide to undertake action projects together.

Educational support can encourage learning as a primary focus by attending workshops or seminars together, or reading and discussing books or journal articles, or asking members of the group to share special knowledge or expertise.

Making support groups work

Have clear agreements - what you want to do together, how often, how long, to meet, being respectful of each other etc.
Confidentiality is very necessary for building trust. Make a clear commitment that sensitive personal matters raised in the group will not get discussed outside the group.
Start and finish on time - we're all busy people!
Equal time for each person to speak and have the focus of attention (this may be varied in special circumstances).
Keep to the stated purpose - keep the focus on the person whose turn it is - resist getting sidetracked.
Practice good listening - this is the key element.
Ask pertinent, strategic questions to encourage clarity on each person's objectives and how to reach them.
Encourage skills development and study.
Encourage self-care - physical and emotional.
Allow silence - encourage the focus person to pause occasionally, to go within, to reflect without interruption.
Provide challenge and feedback - gently, skilfully and honestly. And practice receiving feedback. Encourage boldness.
Draw out deeper feelings - this takes time and skills.
Deal with conflicts as they arise.

No recruiting - support time is about support for you, not for recruiting the other members for your cause, unless they offer. This sort of group is different in nature from a working party.

Encouragement could be given from environment groups for the formation of support groups from within the same organisation or with members from other groups doing similar work. Workshops and discussions designed to give some ideas and experience of how they can best operate can be helpful in getting them off to a good start. Resources for establishing and maintaining support groups can be found in Green & Woodrow (1993) and Shields (1991) and Coover et al (1977).

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3. ASSISTING ACTIVISTS TO DEVELOP A WIDER PERSPECTIVE ON THE CHANGE PROCESS

By exploring "change models" as a group, patterns from other social movements may provide a bigger perspective, than the one of apparent lurching from crisis to crisis.
More realistic expectations and effective strategies may emerge.
Models can assist the reframing of "losses" as inevitable and potentially galvanising trigger events to move to a new phase of the environment movement.
With a wider perspective, inexperienced activists are less likely to be discouraged or give up because of a campaign setback.
Models that take in the longer term perspective can help shift motivation from a short term (this campaign) basis to a long term, principled life-long, sustainable commitment to fundamental change.
Models which validate a variety of roles and strategies within the same movement can help to minimise projection and negativity towards others who are in fact working for the same change, albeit differently; for example, Rebels vs Reformers

Some models we have found useful for working with groups in this way are:

Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan, with its "Eight Stages of Social Movements" and the "Four Roles of Activism".(Moyer 1990)
Everett Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory that explains the way that new ideas and new consciousness spreads in societies and the roles of innovators, change agents, early adopters , etc.(
Coping with change models drawn from a diverse variety of sources such as theories of organisational change and management and the grief work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
Non-Violent Social Barometer model can be a tool for strategy building and analysis. (Shields 1991 p. 54)
Tools such as Structural Analysis and Lewin's Force Field Analysis (Coover et al 1977) can assist in developing a wider perspective on the problem and forming appropriate strategy.

Workshops from 1 hour to several days can be designed using these models as tools for learning and exploration.

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4. DEVELOPING OR MAINTAINING GROUP MORALE/MOTIVATION

Developing a good Task / Maintenance balance

Groups can become overly focused on the task at hand - especially when the task is preventing environmental destruction - at the expense of the maintenance of individual and group well-being. This means paying attention to how things are done not only what gets done particularly in terms of attending to group process that maintains interpersonal relationships and work satisfaction. Attention to group maintenance whether it be in meetings or daily activities can help to sustain your group for effective work in the long haul.

Building Team Relationships

Good teamwork can be one of your most effective tools for making a difference. Understanding and valuing the individual needs, skills, talents, resources and styles of working and communicating which each person brings to your team can help each person to do their best work. Your team can then synergise these energies for maximum effectiveness. There are many options for training and support for team building.

Resolving Conflicts and Improving Communication

Nothing saps the energy like unresolved conflict, or confuses an issue like misunderstanding and mis-communication. Good techniques for communication - both oral and written - and for resolving inevitable conflicts, will help your group to function effectively. Groups that see conflict as an opportunity for development rather than as something to be avoided, are more likely to flourish. Basic training in conflict resolution skills can be a good in investment maintaining the group. Taking time to resolve conflict, if necessary with a neutral third party mediator or facilitator can prevent serous damage to group morale.

Celebrating Successes & Achievements

Too often our successes and achievements are overlooked in the rush on to the next thing. In the world of environmental activism, where there are many setbacks, it is vital that the group does take time to celebrate, to validate achievements and provide impetus to carry on.

All of the training areas above have links with effective planning & evaluation, stress management and burnout prevention, time management, etc.

Exercises

See rating scale "How well does your group empower its members?" this could be used as a focus activity for the group to evaluate peoples satisfaction in a number of key areas.
Topics for a group brainstorm and/or discussion:

"What do you find motivating?

"What, in our organisation, saps motivation?
Group Feedback Exercise: the purpose of this exercise is to give a simple format to evaluate and share personal experiences of being part of a group. It also helps build understanding and support within a group. Take it in turns, with no interruptions or discussion:

"What is good about being part of this group for me......"

"What is hard about being part of this group for me....."

"What I would like help with is....."

For ideas on exercises that could be used to develop in these areas see Coover et al (1977), Shields (1991) and Jelfs (1982)

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5. PROCESSES AND TECHNIQUES TO MOTIVATE AND ENROL NON-ACTIVE PEOPLE

The fields of psychology, sales/marketing, health promotion and fundraising have developed a fairly sophisticated understanding of what motivates people that is applicable to environmental groups wanting involve new people. It can be very useful for groups to access knowledge and resources from these areas and translate them to the community based environmental activist setting.

This area of training involves methods and strategies to:

Provide more than just information on the problems but to also provide well designed and appropriate conduits to action. (Culturally and sub culturally appropriate, suggesting action that is not too much ,not too little, motivating without pressure etc).
Building rapport and communication with people from sectors of society your group members may not generally mix with.
To assist new people to change their self image and perceive themselves as environmentalists.
Providing welcoming and supportive orientation and follow through for new volunteers or donors.
Providing training, clear expectations and support in overcoming obstacles to further action.

Resources for training in Flood & Laurence (1987), Covey (1989), Pegg (1993) and Shields (1991). See also resources for fundraising etc.

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